If you want to get to the LPGA Tour, making a stop in Battle Creek first has proven to be a good idea.

The Symetra Tour is known as 'The Road To The LPGA', but that is more than just an advertising slogan for Ally McDonald, who played well enough at last summer's FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship in Battle Creek to spend this summer exclusively on the LPGA Tour.

McDonald was back in Battle Creek this week to help promote the upcoming 4th Annual FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship with the 2017 event being played at Battle Creek Country Club on July 28-30.

McDonald finished as a runner-up last year at the FireKeepers event and says that result helped get her on the road to being a full-time LPGA golfer this summer. Overall, she posted eight top-10 finishes on the Symetra Tour last summer and ended with the second-highest earnings total ($110,359) in Tour history.

"Finishing second at FireKeepers last year was a big part of me finishing in the top 10 on the Symetra Tour final money list, so I graduated to the LPGA," McDonald said. "So this was a big event for me in my career.

"I think everybody on the Symetra Tour and at the FireKeepers event, they are playing because they want to be on the LPGA Tour. It is a great way to get people ready for the tour and throughout the season really picks out who is most prepared to go to the next level."

The 4th Annual FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship will feature an array of professional women golfers from around the world competing for the top prize of $15,000, plus valuable points to capture the Potawatomi Cup and a bonus prize pool of $40,000.

Due to poor weather, the 2016 FireKeepers Championship was suspended after 36 holes and won by Laura Gonzalez Escallon.

The Symetra Tour – Road to the LPGA is the most established development tour in the world. Every year, the top 10 Symetra Tour players earn automatic membership to play on the LPGA Tour. Last year’s first- and second-place finishers, Gonzales Escallon and McDonald earned spots in the Evian Championship for their finishes at the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship. Both also received 2017 LPGA Tour Cards.

"It is our fourth year holding this event and we are really proud to be a part of the Symetra Tour and the LPGA family," said Kathy George, Tournament Director and FireKeepers Casino Hotel CEO. "We are very excited it is coming up next month, it is one our favorite weeks of the year.

"For us to be on the ground floor of watching people's career take off is exciting. We look at the standings every week on the Symetra Tour and the LPGA to see how the golfers who have been here in Battle Creek are doing."

Symetra Tour(Photo: Provided)

This year, FireKeepers Casino Hotel will donate all proceeds earned from the event to The Haven of Rest in Battle Creek

The week leading up to the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship also encompasses several community outreach programs including Outside the Ropes and a Kids Clinic. Outside the Ropes sends professional golfers around Battle Creek to give back to the community. In 2016, professional golfers visited the Calhoun County Animal Shelter and several other local charitable organizations. The 2017 Kids Clinic will bring children from area schools to the Battle Creek Country Club for a day of fun, learning and enjoyment with the professional golfers and The First Tee of Battle Creek.

And mixed with all of that is the three rounds of golf with some of the best up-and-coming young professional golfers in the world.

"Coming right out of college, everybody wants to go straight to the LPGA, but being in the Symetra Tour last year was where I needed to be," McDonald said. "The whole year, and especially playing here in Battle Creek and at the FireKeepers event, was a great stepping stone for me and helped me get my feet wet and get me on my way and now I'm just trying to make the most of it on the LPGA Tour."